chance meeting
by no cure for crazy
Summary: A failed blind date starts to look up when Laurel runs into a mysterious stranger


AN: Written for flarrow femslash valentine's week: day one - first date/ meet-cute

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She doesn't exactly know why she agreed to being set up for a blind date – especially with Thea and Cisco being involved. A part of her kept telling her to just say no, to forget about the whole thing but she didn't now she's already sitting at a table in the small coffee shop.

Laurel glances at her phone, checking the time for the third time in the past few minutes. Her date was late and it's doing nothing to calm her nerves.

 _Calm down Laurel, it'll be okay,_ she tells herself, repeating it a few times. _You have nothing to lose. Well except maybe your dignity._

It's not that she doesn't trust Thea, she does. It's just, she's tried to help Laurel with the whole dating thing but it never works out. Either the date never shows up or Laurel has to come up with some lame excuse for why she has to leave. I guess being a district attorney by day and a vigilante by night doesn't leave much time for dating – let alone free time in general.

And it feels like now might be one of the occasion where the guy doesn't show up.

She sighs as she watches people come, get their coffee and leave. Others slide into booths or tables and pull out their laptops or tablets. Then there's couples sitting in the back booths and of course, there's her, alone and probably sticking out like a sore thumb with nothing but a half empty coffee cup, her phone and her purse.

 _Well this probably could have gone better._

After another twenty minutes she gathers up her phone and her bag and stands from the table, it's clear her date isn't coming. She may or may not have some words for Thea when she sees her again.

She dumps her now empty coffee cup into the trash on her way out the door only to collide with someone on the sidewalk.

"I'm so sorry –"

"Sorry, I—"

Laurel doesn't know who spoke first and it has her finally looking up to see who she walked into. She finds her gaze following on a woman with dark hair and eyes to match.

"I'm so sorry," Laurel says again

"We all have those days where we're in a hurry, don't we," the woman responds, glancing at Laurel with an amused expression on her face. "Although you seem slightly embarrassed – I'm sure bumping into someone can't be that bad."

"It's not that," Laurel says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She doesn't know what possess her to tell a complete stranger about her dating dilemma but the words are out before she realizes and she can't take them back. "My set me up on a blind date and I don't know why I even agreed to it in the first place but here I am and I'm pretty sure I was just stood up because my date never showed."

"Sounds like you're having a fairly rough day."

"I'm sorry, you probably don't want to know about a complete stranger's problems," Laurel adds. "Especially one who can't watch where she's going."

"Nyssa," the dark haired woman replies, holding out her hand which Laurel takes in a quick handshake.

"Laurel," she responds with a small smile. "I don't think I've seen you around before."

"Because you haven't," Nyssa says with a shrug. "I'm just passing through, looking for some answers, I guess."

"And you expect to find those here?" Laurel asks, curiosity getting the best of her from the mysterious stranger she ran into.

"I don't know, but I believe there's probably a reason why I was drawn to this city of all places," Nyssa explains.

A thought occurs to Laurel then and maybe she's looking too far into this, too soon but she thinks there may have been a reason she ran into this woman. Sure, Laurel's not one who's big on faith or coincidences but she doesn't believe that was just a chance encounter.

"Well I don't know how long you plan on staying in Star City, but if you ever want or need someone to show you around, I wouldn't mind," Laurel tells her.

"That sounds nice, actually," Nyssa agrees. "Maybe I'll have to take you up on that offer."

Laurel reaches into her bag and pulls out her small notepad and a pencil. She quickly flips the pad open to a new page, jotting down her phone number before ripping the piece of paper out and handing it to Nyssa.

"Thanks," Nyssa says, reaching out and taking the scrap piece of paper before sliding it into the front pocket of jeans. "I guess I'll see you around, Laurel."

"See you around," Laurel mirrors before the two woman share a small smile and head in separate directions.

 _Maybe this day wasn't all bad_.


End file.
